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Mr Farage resisted the temptation to let the ITV cameras into this home, perhaps after Ed Miliband's problems with his second kitchen.

Instead he was interview by the Tonight programme's Julie Etchingham on the seafront at Deal, where he grew up.

Mr Farage revealed that as a schoolboy he 'always questioned authority'

He described his childhood of 'youthful excess' but gave few details. Asked if he had enjoyed some lively nights out in the clubs of the Kent town, he replied: 'Oh gosh, absolutely no comment haha.'

Asked if his high jinks included the sea, he confess: 'Well I did a bit of skinny dipping and a few things like that in the middle of the night, yes.

'Youthful excess. It got very cold, erm. It does need some parameters and some boundaries; I probably had fewer than most.'

As a boy he enjoyed more 'freedom' than children today. 'Kids were allowed out you know with sandwiches and a bottle of water and a bike and off you went and did things for the day.'

He would go out and collect things, including 'pot lids and bottles and old clay pipes and all sorts of things'.

He admitted: 'As I got older and into my teens I got more and more difficult. I always questioned authority. I guess a bit of a wind up merchant really.'

This schoolboy trait has now become part of his political persona. 'Well, being in the European Parliament was an extension of being in school and questioning authority, yes. Look you know to have a healthy vibrant democracy you need people that question authority.'

In the programme, to be broadcast tonight, Mr Farage also discussed the impact of his father leaving home when he was just five.

'Well these things happen, he got over it and made a success of his life. We had some problems when I was a kid but not that bad,' he said.

Mr Farage resisted the temptation to let the ITV cameras into this home, perhaps after Ed Miliband's problems with his second kitchen

He reflected on his own mortality when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in his early twenties.

'I was very emotional about it. Well my memory is that I was 21 years old and I had testicular cancer and one of my thoughts through that period was that perhaps I won’t be able to have children, then having children, first child was a very big moment. I was very emotional about it.

'I’ve been very lucky. I've got four - two boys, two girls, they're fit and healthy. You're not going to see pictures because I’m keeping them out of the public view. But they are all doing well in life and I am pleased about that.'

He discussed how he says prayers 'sometimes', most recently for his family after they became trapped in a pub surrounded by a gang of protesters.

'The only prayers I would ever say actually would be which after last Sunday (when his family were scared by protesters during a Sunday lunch) perhaps is more appropriate you know would be for my family, to be well and to be happy and be strong and I do sometimes think that what I am doing is making their lives a bit difficult.'

As a hobby, Mr Farage would go out and collect things, including 'pot lids and bottles and old clay pipes and all sorts of things'

He said that being Ukip leader did not necessarily prepare him for the level of interest, and opposition in recent months.

'Well you see if I got into the Conservative Party, one of the big parties and became an MP and was on a career path, perhaps you could have anticipated longer term what some of the costs might have been, because this was you know a little rabble army that suddenly became quite a big political party, so it's, some of it has come as a bit of a surprise yeah.'

But he insisted he has no plans to quit, despite suggesting in earlier interviews that he would stand down if he does not win the target seat of Thanet South on May 7.

'I have decided I will stand down before the 2030 general election,' he said with a laugh. 'I have barely started.'